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New nursing staff still undergoing training, certification: Vitalité CEO
Published Jan 21, 2026 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read
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Dr. France Desrosiers, president and CEO of Vitalite Health Network, says the regional health authority won’t meet its February target to eliminate its use of travel nurses. SUBMITTED/VITALITE HEALTH NETWORKArticle content
Vitalité Health Network won’t be weaned off costly travel nurses as promised by the end of February.
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Dr. France Desrosiers, president and CEO of Vitalité, delivered the news at a board meeting Tuesday, citing ongoing staff training and certification as the reason behind missing the target.
Vitalité repeatedly committed to a February 2026 target in the aftermath of a 2024 auditor general’s investigation into the use of travel health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Horizon ended its use of travel nurses in August 2024, but Vitalité indicated it needed until the winter of 2026 even after a provincial law was enacted in a bid to get the regional health authority out of a costly travel nurse contract.
Sixty-five travel nurses – down from a high of 200 – continue to work within the Vitalité health system, Desrosiers said at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“We’re moving in the right direction to not use many travel nurses, but there will still be a few, particularly for Restigouche and in the sectors that are most vulnerable such as the ER and intensive care at the regional hospitals,” Desrosiers said in French at the meeting held in Campbellton.
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Vitalité reported a $40-million deficit – with $27.6 million of that tied to travel nurse expenses – in the first two quarters of the 2025-26 fiscal year, the public heard Tuesday.
Desrosiers attributed the delayed elimination of travel nurses to newly hired staff still undergoing training and certification processes.
These new nurses are a mix of internationally and domestically trained health-care providers, according to deputy Vitalité CEO Patrick Parent.
“We have the resources,” Parent said in an interview. “We need to ensure that the transition certification is done in a responsible manner, so that explains why we will expand a little bit further beyond (the timeline).”
Vitalité is now aiming to eliminate its use of travel nurses by September, Desrosiers told Brunswick News.
According to its latest quarterly report, Vitalité hired 62 registered nurses – less than half of its target of 140 – along with 36 new licensed practical nurses – well shy of its target of 70 – in the first six months of the 2025-26 fiscal year.
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A single new nurse practitioner was also hired during that period.
Parent told Brunswick News that nurse recruitment remains a key challenge for the regional health authority, although he noted that its most recent data, which isn’t reflected in the quarterly report, shows that “we are pacing to be very close to our targets by year end.”
Vitalité’s ‘weaning plan’ started in 2023
Last June, Vitalité reported it had spent more than $200 million on travel nurses since 2022. That included expenses through to the 2024-25 fiscal year, but it didn’t count its ongoing use of travel nurses nor legal action it’s now facing over contracts with Ontario-based firm Canadian Health Labs (CHL).
Last year, CHL launched three separate lawsuits against Vitalité, alleging the regional health authority had breached three separate travel health-care worker contracts signed by the parties back in 2022.
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Vitalité has since lobbed the same accusation back at CHL in countersuits filed with the Court of King’s Bench.
None of the allegations have yet to be tested in court.
CHL filed its first lawsuit against Vitalité two days after the Holt Liberal government introduced legislation to prevent the company from suing the province.
By that point, CHL nurses had been told not to show up to work anymore by Vitalité despite the parties’ current contract running through until at least Feb. 5, 2026.
Vitalité has continued to use travel nurses through other agencies.
At the time it was revealed CHL nurses were off the job, Vitalité noted that its travel-nurse “weaning plan, which began in the fall of 2023,” had “already significantly reduced our recourse to these resources.”
“We plan to accelerate this process over the course of the year, particularly with the addition of new hires,” Vitalité said in an unsigned statement. “Among these new hires are professionals who are currently undergoing certification in Canada, as well as recent cohorts of nursing graduates from the province’s post-secondary institutions.
“Our goal of ending reliance on agencies by February 2026 remains unchanged.”
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